I was in the stands, watching as the Beacon Hills Lacrosse Team entered the field, getting into their positions. I frowned when I didn't notice Scott, eyes scanning the field before I eventually found him sitting on the bench, out of the game.
What?
Confused, I left my seat in the stands and made my way to the bench, positioning myself in between Scott and Stiles who had seemed to leave a space for me without even meaning to. I tried not to smile at the thought.
"Why are you on the bench?" I asked him.
Scott rubbed his eyes tiredly. "I'm failing three classes."
"But you need to play."
Scott groaned. "I know!"
There was a nervous silence, all of us thinking about the game about to start and what it meant now that Scott wasn't on the field.
"Is your dad coming?" Scott asked Stiles.
Stiles nodded. "Yeah, he's already here."
"You seen Allison?" the young werewolf asked.
Stiles shook his head. "No. Have you seen Lydia?"
"Not yet," Scott answered.
I rolled my eyes at the boys, but my amusement was short lived. What was going to happen with the game now that Scott couldn't play? Who was going to get hurt, or worse?
"It's gonna be bad, isn't it?" I asked quietly, staring at the field where the players had gotton into a circle, coming up with a gameplan.
"Like people screaming running for their lives, blood, killing, maiming kind of bad?" Stiles added, because for some reason describing the events tonight might hold seemed like a good idea to him.
Scott sighed. "Looks like it."
"We're losing guys," Stiles murmured, looking at the two of us with sombre expression.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Coach's voice rang out from beside me. I nearly jumped, turning to find the teacher squatting behind us on the stands. "The game hasn't even started. Now put your helmet on and get out there, you're in for Greenburg."
Stiles' eyes widened. "What? What happened to Greenburg?"
He looked around, panicked at the idea of playing on the field.
"He sucks, you suck... slightly less," Coach explained.
Stiles turned to me. "I'm playing? On the field? With the team?"
I couldn't help but grin at him. "It seems so."
"Get the hell out there!" Coach yelled, and I winced, covering my ears. Boy was I glad I wasn't on the lacrosse team.
Stiles gave us one more panicked look before following Coach onto the field, scrambling to get his helmet on with one hand and put his gloves on with the other. I smiled at his antics, feeling a small semblance of calmness inside me. Not much, but it helped me think more clearly.
Except then Scott froze up, tensing as he stared at something in the distance. I followed his gaze and found Gerard, standing on the sidelines. I cringed, knowing he must be saying something to Scott and wishing he wasn't. I didn't want anything bad to happen, and I certainly didn't want Scott or Stiles to risk their life in order to save all these people.
Scott noticed my gaze and sighed, murmuring quietly, "Gerard's threatening to kill people if we don't give him Derek by the end of the game."
I recoiled, feeling dread in the pit of my stomach. How were we supposed to get Derek to him by the end of the game? We didn't even know where he was. Plus, that gave off betrayal vibes, and I was not about to go as low as Derek, though I admit I wouldn't mind seeing him dead.
I blinked, surprised at the darkness of my own thoughts, and glanced at the game that just started, trying to focus on that rather than the disturbing thoughts in my mind.
I sort of wished I hadn't focused on the game as I watched Stiles... I wasn't sure if play was the right word. Attempt to play, sure, but all he managed to do was get hit in the head with the ball and other players.
Scott and I shared a look, and the werewolf got up, intending to join the game, when Coach appeared and put a hand on his shoulder, keeping him sitting down. "Sit down McCall."
Realistically Scott would be able to stand up and easily overpower the teacher, but he didn't, settling for verbal pleading instead. "But Coach, we're dying out there."
"Oh I'm aware of that," Coach said. "Now sit." He pointed to me. "Make sure he stays there."
I gave him a salute as he walked off, turning to Scott just as someone sat on his other side. I blinked, then blinked again, because it couldn't possibly be Isaac, sitting there, decked in the Beacon Hills Lacrosse uniform. Not when he was supposed to have left already.
"You came to help," Scott said, surprised.
Isaac smirked. "I came to win." His gaze slid to me, the smirk morphing into something softer, just for me. "Hey."
I blinked again because apparently my grasp on reality had gotton lax, before remembering where I was and scowling at the werewolf, looking away. I was angry at him, I reminded myself. He betrayed me and broke my trust so stop with the stupid fucking butterflies. My body didn't listen though, and I had to sit there with a mere person between Isaac and I, trying not to freak out.
Isaac sighed before focusing on Scott. "You got a plan yet?"
Scott laughed humourlessly. "Nope. Right now it's pretty much just keep Jackson from killing anyone."
"Well that might be easier if you were actually in the game," Isaac said, observing the players on the field. "We have to make it so Coach has no choice but to play you."
Scott followed his line of sight. "How do we do that?"
Isaac briefly glanced at me before looking away, and I glowered at the somersault my stomach did at the action.
He's got a bench full of guys he can put on the field before me," Scott argued.
Realizing his plan, I finally acknowledged Isaac, turning to him only to find him already staring at me. I looked away, wanting him to know this did not mean I was on good terms with him at all. I just wanted to ensure that no one died tonight, and unfortunately that meant conferring with Isaac.
"Can you do that without putting anyone in the hospital?" Scott asked, also catching onto the plan.
"I can try," Isaac said, glancing at me one last time before putting on his helmet and walking off into the field, which was finally when I let out a long sigh.
Scott turned to me. "Giving him the silent treatment, really?"
I scowled at him. "I don't know what else to do!"
"Talk to him," Scott said exasperatedly. "Figure things out."
I crossed my arms, sulking. "Don't tell me what to do."
Scott sighed at my attitude but dropped the subject, focusing on the game. I followed suit, annoyed when my gaze kept snagging on Isaac.
The game continued, Stiles still not winning on the field, but he was getting better. My focus was torn between him and Isaac, and unfortunately Isaac kept managing to steal my attention. Whether it was when he put another player out of action, slamming them onto the grass padded dirt, or when he was just there being annoyingly handsome. With all the violence I'd seen over the course of my time in Beacon Hills, I shouldn't have found Isaac giving other teenagers a hard time on the field attractive, yet here I was, drooling over the guy who hurt me.
"Lahey!" Coach screamed, a spittle of spit flying from his mouth. Isaac stopped where he stood over a wounded Beacon Hills player, clutching his side. "What the hell is your problem?"
Isaac shrugged at Coach, before his gaze landed on me and he gave me a wink before heading back into the game.
I hated how that made my stomach do a little flip. I hated that I still had feelings for Isaac, even after he'd hurt me. I didn't know what to think anymore. On the one hand he'd broken my trust, the trust I had worked so hard to give him after Kate tore it apart. On the other hand, he seemed to still care about me, but was caring enough to continue our relationship after the lies it had been built on fell apart?
I was brought out of my thoughts when Jackson slammed into Isaac, the werewolf crumpling to the floor. I was on my feet before I could even think, bolting towards him even as players and officials yelled at me to get off the field. I didn't need to look to know that Scott was close behind me.
I skidded to my knees in front of him, my hands going to his chest only to freeze midway and end up hovering nervously over him. Even with whatever pain he was in, Isaac managed a smile when he saw me.
"Still care about me huh?"
I frowned, ignoring his comment. "What's wrong?"
Isaac, still lying on the floor, glances at the rest of his body, his right arm in particular. "It's not broken, but I can't move it. I think Jackson nicked me because I can feel the venom spreading."
I silently cursed, but backed away as Isaac was put on a stretcher and taken from the field. I glanced worriedly at Scott, but he was talking to Coach, the teacher reluctantly shoving a lacrosse helmet into Scott's hands. At least Isaac had managed to get Scott on the field before Jackson got to him.
Melissa hurried over to us both, casting weary glances at the other players as she spoke to us in a low tone. "Something's happening, isn't it? Something more than a lacrosse game?"
"You should go," Scott warned.
Melissa shook her head. "Oh, I'm not going anywhere, and everything I said before, forget it. All of it, okay? If you can do something to help then you do it, you have to." She grabbed onto her son's arm to make her point, staring at him with a mixture of love and concern.
I looked away when it started to hurt.
I waited until Melissa had finished talking to Scott before making my way back to the stands with her in toe. Scott had made me promise to keep an eye on her if I could, and I was going to keep that promise. At least, I had intended to, but that was before I felt my whole body go cold.
An icy feeling of dread grabbed ahold of me, its claws digging into my skin, tearing flesh. It was so overpowering I almost stumbled, feeling it crawl into my body, my lungs, my heart, suffocating me with its unbearable weight. Flashes crossed my mind. Isaac, crawling on the floor. Gerard, stalking after him with a sword. Blood. So much blood.
I looked at the field, eyes scanning for Gerard, but the Argent was gone. Only one thing was on my mind as I started running full speed to the boy's locker room.
Isaac.